Tonight, I played my first 2.0 game with the following list:

RZ-1 A-wing - Green Squadron Pilot - 43
Green Squadron Pilot - (34)
Outmaneuver (6)
Homing Missiles (3)

T-65 X-wing - Red Squadron Veteran - 56
Red Squadron Veteran - (43)
Predator (2)
Proton Torpedoes (9)
Munitions Failsafe (2)
Servomotor S-foils (Closed) (0)

T-65 X-wing - Red Squadron Veteran - 56
Red Squadron Veteran - (43)
Predator (2)
Proton Torpedoes (9)
Munitions Failsafe (2)
Servomotor S-foils (Closed) (0)

RZ-1 A-wing - Green Squadron Pilot - 43
Green Squadron Pilot - (34)
Outmaneuver (6)
Homing Missiles (3)

Total: 198/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I was playing against an Imperial list of a TIE Reaper, two TIE Phantoms, and a TIE Bomber. I lost pretty soundly, though I almost managed to kill the Bomber, and reduced one Phantom to half health. (I managed to get the Bomber to 1 Hull, and then three times one of my ships was lined up for a killing shot, only to have his higher-initiative pilots kill them before they could fire.)

Observations:
Homing Missiles are very useful on A-Wings.
Outmaneuver didn't come into play very often.
Munitions Failsafe didn't come into play at all (neither of the X-Wings ever managed to fire a torpedo).
Predator was applicable a couple times, though usually not on the target I wanted.
R4 Astromech looks useless on an X-Wing until you realize just how often you'd dearly love to have that 2-turn be blue.

Conclusions :
I'd like to keep the 2X/2A grouping for thematic reasons, but I'll probably remove Outmaneuver and Munitions Failsafe and see if I can't bump up to some named pilots with decent abilities. I'll also try flying the A-Wings a little different next time, darting in and out of combat rather than charging in and trying to stay on target. Overall, I was happy with how everything flew, considering I'm still pretty much a rookie myself, and I look forward to tweaking this some more.

Of course, next week I'd like to try out my Imperial list:

TIE/sk Striker - Black Squadron Scout - 41
Black Squadron Scout - (38)
Seismic Charges (3)

TIE/ph Phantom - “Echo” - 54
•“Echo” - Slippery Trickster (50)
Juke (4)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Captain Kagi - 64
•Captain Kagi - The Emperor’s Shuttle Pilot (48)
Heavy Laser Cannon (4)
Freelance Slicer (3)
ISB Slicer (3)
ST-321 (6)

TIE/sk Striker - Black Squadron Scout - 41
Black Squadron Scout - (38)
Seismic Charges (3)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

And if tokens get too irritating, I may even need to try out:

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Omicron Group Pilot - 46
Omicron Group Pilot - (43)
ISB Slicer (3)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Omicron Group Pilot - 46
Omicron Group Pilot - (43)
ISB Slicer (3)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - •Lieutenant Sai - 59
•Lieutenant Sai - Death Squadron Veteran (47)
Freelance Slicer (3)
ISB Slicer (3)
ST-321 (6)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Omicron Group Pilot - 46
Omicron Group Pilot - (43)
ISB Slicer (3)

Total: 197/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

Any thoughts or suggestions?

For my second game, I used this squad:

TIE/sk Striker - Black Squadron Scout - 41
Black Squadron Scout - (38)
Seismic Charges (3)

TIE/ph Phantom - “Echo” - 54
•“Echo” - Slippery Trickster (50)
Juke (4)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Captain Kagi - 64
•Captain Kagi - The Emperor’s Shuttle Pilot (48)
Heavy Laser Cannon (4)
Freelance Slicer (3)
ISB Slicer (3)
ST-321 (6)

TIE/sk Striker - Black Squadron Scout - 41
Black Squadron Scout - (38)
Seismic Charges (3)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

and things went...less well. I flew against Han Solo, Constable Zuvio, Palob Godalhi, and one of the Escape Craft pilots. Palob Godalhi ensured that my Phantom never got an Evade token, while Zuvio lobbed Proximity Mines directly onto my poor Strikers before they even had an opportunity to clear out many obstacles, giving Trick Shot Solo plenty of extra dice to decimate my Lambda . On the offense side of things, I managed three hits on the Falcon (all just coming off the Escape Craft's shields) and a single crit on Zuvio.

Observations:
Jam tokens don't really help when the affected ship doesn't plan on taking green tokens or target locks anyway.
Scum have some incredibly powerful pilot abilities.

Conclusions :
I don't feel like this was really a good match-up for my list. I know I didn't fly brilliantly, but I don't think I flew too terribly either. Everything just went so wrong (and some horribly unlucky dice certainly didn't help) that it's tough to even come up with anything I could have done differently that would have had any real impact. My opponent having a hard counter to one of my ships really hurt, as did the mines' guaranteed damage onto my unshielded ships. I guess I'll try flying this one a couple more times to see if I can figure out what's going on with it. My only real take-away is to start reading the opponent's pilots' abilities carefully. That, and it'll likely be a long time before I'll be willing to face Scum again.

Played my third and fourth matches tonight. Third match used:

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - •Lieutenant Sai - 52
•Lieutenant Sai - Death Squadron Veteran (47)
Jamming Beam (2)
ISB Slicer (3)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Omicron Group Pilot - 48
Omicron Group Pilot - (43)
Jamming Beam (2)
ISB Slicer (3)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Omicron Group Pilot - 48
Omicron Group Pilot - (43)
Jamming Beam (2)
ISB Slicer (3)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Omicron Group Pilot - 48
Omicron Group Pilot - (43)
Jamming Beam (2)
ISB Slicer (3)

Total: 196/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

My opponent was flying Palob, Talonbane, and Old Teroch. I made the list just for fun, and wasn't really expecting it to perform brilliantly, but even so it was a majorly disappointing match. Whether it was with my primary weapon or with the Jamming Beam, I couldn't land a single hit, despite at least two shuttles getting to fire every single round. Meanwhile, my opponent's dice couldn't seem to roll a blank if his life depended on it. One particularly bad turn ended up with Teroch throwing five dice at one of my shuttles which already had no shields and a crit, and ending up with a natural throw of a crit and four hits. The one positive is that I feel I flew the shuttles rather well, and didn't bump or land on obstacles except when I planned to do so.

Observations :
Shuttles don't turn around well.
Not being able to take Focus tokens really hurts your chances of hitting enemies.
3 primary attack is horrible if you have no way to modify dice.
Having a lot of hitpoints means nothing if your opponent's rolling a lot of (good) dice.
Scum still have some incredibly powerful pilot abilities.

Conclusions:
I don't feel like this match really let the list show its true potential, small though that may be. I knew going into it that this list was going to lose, but losing 40 HP without landing a single hit just felt like I didn't even get a chance to actually play. So far, not only am I 0-2 against Scum in victories, I'm 0-2 even having fun.

Fourth match, I used:

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Omicron Group Pilot - 69
Omicron Group Pilot - (43)
Collision Detector (5)
Heavy Laser Cannon (4)
•Darth Vader (14)
ISB Slicer (3)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - Omicron Group Pilot - 58
Omicron Group Pilot - (43)
Collision Detector (5)
Heavy Laser Cannon (4)
ISB Slicer (3)
•0-0-0 (3)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - •Lieutenant Sai - 70
•Lieutenant Sai - Death Squadron Veteran (47)
Collision Detector (5)
Heavy Laser Cannon (4)
•Director Krennic (5)
Freelance Slicer (3)
• ST-321 (6)

Total: 197/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I put Optimized Prototype on Vader's shuttle, and had much more fun with this list. My opponent was flying Whisper with Admiral Sloan, along with Wampa, two generic Interceptors, and a Striker. Collision Detector let me charge through obstacles, while Vader and 0-0-0 wreaked havoc against the rebellious TIEs! I even managed to take out the Interceptors as my first Second Edition kills! In the end, though, Vader ended up falling nobly, and the TIES managed to fall in behind the other shuttles. One flew off the board due to Stress denying him a red maneuver the previous turn, and the last was cornered and taken out. Stress was certainly a concern, but fortunately, the move I wanted was usually a blue maneuver, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been (the fact that I could maneuver over obstacles without worrying about additional Stress was a large factor).

Observations:
Shuttles still don't turn around well.
Stress hurts when you're reliant on actions to provide safety.
Imperials have some good crew.
HLC may only give you one extra die, but it's still fun when it triggers.
Shuttles are a lot of fun to fly!

Conclusions:
Shuttles are meant to be kitted out, and they fly so much better when they are. This match was a lot of fun, and I would definitely fly this list again. If I were to do one thing differently, it would be to stagger my shuttles more so that they could cover each other's flanks better.

Thanks for the write up!

How useful (or not) did you find the ISB & Freelance Slicer combo?

On 10/13/2018 at 11:27 AM, Tam Palso said:

Thanks for the write up!

How useful (or not) did you find the ISB & Freelance Slicer combo?

ISB Slicer was useful, but unfortunately the opponent's list focused more on repositioning than on tokens, so it didn't come up too often apart from one time on the Phantom (Jam action). Though, denying his Phantom a recloak would have been rather useful had I been able to capitalize on it.

Freelance Slicer didn't really come into play much. Most of the time, I was trying to use my Target Lock to feed the Optimized Prototype, and trying to get a target that would work with that as well as who was going to attack my Freelance Slicer was a bit of a challenge. I may swap him out for another ISB Slicer, and put Jamming Beam back in. HLC was fun, but it probably doesn't trigger enough to really be worth it on three shuttles.

Oh woah, I was the sloane player in the 4th game! Hello! I heavily underestimated your list, thought it would be easy to wipe the shuttles off the table. So I decided to straight joust you. Ended up having to use a lot of my repositioning actions to dodge the HLC arcs, and couldn't push a lot of damage through on the joust because of so many reinforces! Looking back, I should have drug the shuttles through the rocks to force them to burn the collision detectors, then flanked and came in from the rear with my vastly superior maneuverability. That being said, man imps have some good crew, and if reinforce was in its 1.0 state there's no way I would've been able to push through that much damage!

On 10/15/2018 at 3:46 PM, pyoinator said:

Oh woah, I was the sloane player in the 4th game! Hello! I heavily underestimated your list, thought it would be easy to wipe the shuttles off the table. So I decided to straight joust you. Ended up having to use a lot of my repositioning actions to dodge the HLC arcs, and couldn't push a lot of damage through on the joust because of so many reinforces! Looking back, I should have drug the shuttles through the rocks to force them to burn the collision detectors, then flanked and came in from the rear with my vastly superior maneuverability. That being said, man imps have some good crew, and if reinforce was in its 1.0 state there's no way I would've been able to push through that much damage!

Hi! Sloane's ability to hand out Stress was pretty rough, and if I recall correctly, was responsible for one of my shuttles being forced off the board (because two 1-banks are just a little wider than a single 2-turn). I'll have to remember that in the future if she's around: turn first, then kill.

Another thing I think I should have done differently, is not have all the shuttles lined up like I did. Having more angles to cover each other may have been better, though obstacles make that a little tricky. Maybe someday they'll make Seismic Cannon, so Lambda s can clear their own paths.

Thanks for the match, and if I helped spread even a tiny bit more respect for the shuttle, so much the better! I do agree that Collision Detectors are good, and I may need to play this list again sooner rather than later, as it wouldn't surprise me if they got a little bit of a price hike eventually.

Fifth game was:

Z-95-AF4 Headhunter - Binayre Pirate - 24
Binayre Pirate - (24)

Z-95-AF4 Headhunter - Binayre Pirate - 24
Binayre Pirate - (24)

JumpMaster 5000 - •Tel Trevura - 87
•Tel Trevura - Escape Artist (60)
Expert Handling (6)
Ion Torpedoes (6)
Munitions Failsafe (2)
• Punishing One (8)
R5 Astromech (5)

G-1A Starfighter - •4-LOM - 65
•4-LOM - Reprogrammed Protocol Droid (49)
Trick Shot (1)
Advanced Sensors (8)
• Mist Hunter (2)
Ion Cannon (5)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

My opponent was flying a TIE swarm, with four Academy Pilots and four Black Squadron Aces with Crack Shot. I managed to do a pretty good job of flying without bumping unintentionally, and managed to ion a TIE to break up one of the formations. Unfortunately, while I managed to damage a couple TIEs early on, the dice soon turned on me, and I only managed to actually kill one TIE before being wiped out myself. 4-LOM was useful when his ability worked (and Advanced Sensors was great on him), but most of the time, a red maneuver simply wasn't what was best for him to do, so he rarely had stress to pass. Tel never even had the chance to trigger, as he and my other ships went out on the same turn, so the game ended before he could return. R5 Astromech was sort of useless, as the swarm was putting through so much damage that a fixing a single damage didn't matter, and it wasn't really possible to escape them long enough to make spending an action worth it, anyway. I don't recall the Z-95s really accomplishing much, and it probably would have been more worthwhile to go with a single 48-point ship.

Observations:
TIES are surprisingly difficult to take down
4-dice attacks don't really do much when you can't modify them
Swarms are very difficult to take down, in part because even when you do manage to damage one, odds are well against you even having a shot on that one next time.

Conclusions:
I mainly put this list together to try the 2.0 Jumpmaster, and included the G-1A just because I had never flown it. The Jumpmaster's dial was really fun, but the ship itself seems a bit overcosted. Rather concerning to me was the fact that I was pretty reliably rolling 4-dice attacks with little-to-no damage going through (in addition to the one I killed, I think only two or three other TIEs had any damage on them). I sincerely hope we don't get a meta that pretty much needs 5-dice attacks just to accomplish anything.

You seem to really like munitions failsafe, did it ever get used in your games? I feel like with 2.0 allowing you to spend locks on all munitions, the odds of missing attacks are pretty low, especially with evade tokens getting a small nerf.

On 10/26/2018 at 12:20 AM, markcsoul said:

You seem to really like munitions failsafe, did it ever get used in your games? I feel like with 2.0 allowing you to spend locks on all munitions, the odds of missing attacks are pretty low, especially with evade tokens getting a small nerf.

I mainly just throw it on when I have a couple extra points. It doesn't hit often, but I figure it's not like it's hurting anything being on there.

Anyway, Sixth game!

RZ-1 A-wing - Green Squadron Pilot - 40
Green Squadron Pilot - (34)
Daredevil (3)
Homing Missiles (3)

RZ-1 A-wing - Green Squadron Pilot - 40
Green Squadron Pilot - (34)
Daredevil (3)
Homing Missiles (3)

T-65 X-wing - •Wedge Antilles - 56
•Wedge Antilles - Red Two (52)
Predator (2)
R4 Astromech (2)
Servomotor S-foils (Open) (0)

T-65 X-wing - •Luke Skywalker - 64
•Luke Skywalker - Red Five (62)
R4 Astromech (2)
Servomotor S-foils (Open) (0)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

My opponent flew Duchess, Whisper/Vader, and a TIE Punisher with Trajectory Simulator. I believe this was my first time (in either edition) flying a real, top Initiative/PS ace! My opponent made an early mistake and sent Whisper the wrong way, keeping her out of the action early on. My squadron made short work of Duchess, but at the cost of two A-Wings. Around that time, Whisper returned, making it 2v2 (though he had a completely fresh ship, to my damaged X-Wings). I quickly finished off the Punisher, but kept forgetting to use Focus on Luke, leaving him open to Vader's ability. Eventually, it was just Wedge (sans shields) vs Whisper (untouched), and we called it. Though, I think we may have missed something. My opponent was somewhat new to the game, and part of the reason we called it was because I didn't see any way of pushing damage through Whisper's two Evade tokens. It wasn't until later that I realized that Whisper shouldn't have two Evade tokens at the start of Engagement, and figured that my opponent must not have realized that Stygium Array allows you to perform an Evade action , preventing you from using the Evade action after moving. If that's what it was, I suspect it was simply not being familiar with the wording; not intentionally cheating.

Still, it was a very fun list. I probably used Daredevil more than I should have, simply for the novelty of it (2-Turn + 1-Turn is almost a mini-T-Roll)! A-Wings may not stick around too long, but getting a Target Lock early will let them push through at least one damage with Homing Missiles before they leave. The real T-Rolls of the X-Wing made them quite maneuverable as well, and the R4s helped me clear stress while keeping my options open.

Observations:
R4 on X-Wings is great for the price! If you ever find yourself with a few extra points and some droidless X-Wings, throw these on!
A-Wings still go down quickly, but Daredevil helps.
Force tokens don't help against Vader. Need to Focus when he's around!
I need to not only pay attention to the board state, but also pay attention to how it got that way. Newer players may not realize the limitations!

Conclusions:
This list was a modification of my first list, and it flew much better. Daredevil helped keep the A-Wings slippery enough to get a couple shots off, and the named X-Wings really hit hard! I'll probably bounce around to other lists while I try everything out, but this one will definitely be a list to return to later. Once I try out a little bit of everything, it'll probably even be my go-to Rebel list!

Seventh game, I tried a little Imperial power:

TIE/in Interceptor - •Turr Phennir - 46
•Turr Phennir - Ambitious Ace (44)
Predator (2)

TIE/in Interceptor - •Soontir Fel - 54
•Soontir Fel - Ace of Legend (52)
Predator (2)

TIE/D Defender - •Countess Ryad - 100
•Countess Ryad - Cutthroat Politico (86)
Elusive (3)
Fire-Control System (3)
Tractor Beam (3)
Cluster Missiles (5)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

My opponent flew a cinematic list, with Luke/R2 and Han with a loaded-up Falcon . The Defender took two attacks, got one shot off, and then was destroyed by a third attack the next turn. Soontir and Turr managed to last a bit longer, even managing to strip both ships of shields and forcing Luke to run away to recharge, but ultimately, they too succumbed. This was a rather short game, and served as a great reminder of why I have always hated playing against two-ship lists.

Observations:
TIE Defenders are far too delicate for their price.
Obstacles really hurt Imperials, who tend to rely on speedy craft.
Soontir is very deadly in the right situations.
TIE Defenders don't really have enough red maneuvers to make Elusive useful (at the time I made the list, I thought the straights were White, and that her K-turns would therefore be Red. Oops.)

Conclusions:
Soontir and Turr have some good potential, and I'll try to make another list with them. Countess just seemed to go down too quickly to justify her points, especially since she never even had enough room to use her Full Throttle . Maybe she'd work with some Seismic Bombs to clear a path for her, but if the things are going to be this expensive, I really wish they would have gone with an integrated TIE/D title rather than the TIE/x7. At least /D was fun.

24 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

TIE/D Defender - •Countess Ryad - 100

•Countess Ryad - Cutthroat Politico (86)
Elusive (3)
Fire-Control System (3)
Tractor Beam (3)
Cluster Missiles (5)

Maybe swap Elusive for Daredevil. Being able to do a 1 hard boost off of a 2K (dial a 2 straight, you can then turn it into a white 2K) or a 3K and have an evade token (do the free evade first) could be useful. How much did the Tractor and the Missiles factor in? You could drop them for a bid to boost Soontir.

3 hours ago, Hiemfire said:

Maybe swap Elusive for Daredevil. Being able to do a 1 hard boost off of a 2K (dial a 2 straight, you can then turn it into a white 2K) or a 3K and have an evade token (do the free evade first) could be useful. How much did the Tractor and the Missiles factor in? You could drop them for a bid to boost Soontir.

Honestly, the Defender went down so quickly (turn 3) that it didn't really have a chance to do much of anything except die.

I have to confess, I'm a bit confused by the whole "bidding" thing. I know there are advantages to going second, but I just don't think it makes enough of a difference at my current ability level to worry about at the moment. I went second this game, and didn't really notice myself deciding things any differently than I would have if I had gone first. Maybe once I have more experience just flying the ships I can start worrying about some of the finer strategic aspects.

5 hours ago, JJ48 said:

Observations:

TIE Defenders are far too delicate for their price.
Obstacles really hurt Imperials, who tend to rely on speedy craft.
Soontir is very deadly in the right situations.
TIE Defenders don't really have enough red maneuvers to make Elusive useful (at the time I made the list, I thought the straights were White, and that her K-turns would therefore be Red. Oops.)

Conclusions:
Soontir and Turr have some good potential, and I'll try to make another list with them. Countess just seemed to go down too quickly to justify her points, especially since she never even had enough room to use her Full Throttle . Maybe she'd work with some Seismic Bombs to clear a path for her, but if the things are going to be this expensive, I really wish they would have gone with an integrated TIE/D title rather than the TIE/x7. At least /D was fun.

Maybe it's because I'm flying Deltas, who are 72 points instead of named-and-loaded Defenders, but in my experience they seem kind of under-priced. I still haven't lost with Delta/Delta/Omicron (Palpatine) in 8-9 games or so, and I think only one defender bit the dust. The Deltas I've tossed into other lists have also felt solid. The token stack from Full Throttle is something rare in 2e, and has felt really strong for me. One tip: if you fly over an Asteroid (not a Debris Cloud) at 3-speed or higher and don't bump a ship, you'll still get the Full Throttle Evade.

For gearing them up, Juke leaps to the top of the list for talents. Either your opponent doesn't have a focus token, or you force them to spend it now rather than use it on a different attack. Making sure a shot on Soontir doesn't have a focus has a lot of potential. I'm scared by Daredevil, since the blues on a Defender are kinda bad. Lone Wolf is a possibility, or maybe Outmaneuver in the right build.

Next, I can see almost any System upgrade. Fire Control System was good the few times I've ran it on Deltas. Having persistent offensive dice mods feels good when you're using Full Throttle and using a focus token defensively. Collision Detector opens up the dial some. Fly straight through obstacles without caring. Advanced Sensors has some anti-synergy with Full Throttle, but it allows an action if you know your move is going to be blocked, or it allows you to pre-adjust your position to avoid a block. An empty slot is also going to be fine, IMHO.

I think I don't consider a missile or cannon. Maybe HLC in the right list, but probably not. Save more points for bids and other ships.

5 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

since the blues on a Defender are kinda bad.

1 banks and 2-5 straights blue is bad??

1 hour ago, Hiemfire said:

1 banks and 2-5 straights blue is bad??

Maybe bad is an overstatement. But I'll stand by mediocre. 1e Defenders had really bad green moves, since they didn't even get the 1-bank. The only Full Throttle & stress-clearing moves on a Defender are the straights. That's awkward. However, Defenders have seldom needed their Blues, since their K-Turn is White. There's something kind of nice about that all together. Blues which aren't great, on a ship which rarely actually uses the stress clearing.

15 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

Maybe bad is an overstatement. But I'll stand by mediocre. 1e Defenders had really bad green moves, since they didn't even get the 1-bank. The only Full Throttle & stress-clearing moves on a Defender are the straights. That's awkward. However, Defenders have seldom needed their Blues, since their K-Turn is White. There's something kind of nice about that all together. Blues which aren't great, on a ship which rarely actually uses the stress clearing.

Honestly I was focused on helping to make Ryad work for them. White 3 K-turn, free evade action, red 1 Hard boost pointing at the target. It doesn't get you juke, but you have the Evade even though you just did the same as a 2 hard which would have netted Ryad nothing. You can clear the stress with a 2-5 straight or 1 bank to follow the target if you're behind it.

No games this week. I think I'm pretty much burned out on straight-up deathmatches. Maybe when Epic releases, or when I find people interested in playing one of the campaigns, I'll try again, but for now I may just need an X-Wing break for a few months.

Tonight, I decided I'd jump back in after a bit of a hiatus! We had an odd number of players, and I started sitting out, so I only got one game in. My list was:

RZ-2 A-wing - Green Squadron Expert - 42
Green Squadron Expert - (34)
Daredevil (3)
Heroic (1)
Ion Missiles (4)

RZ-2 A-wing - Green Squadron Expert - 42
Green Squadron Expert - (34)
Daredevil (3)
Heroic (1)
Ion Missiles (4)

T-70 X-wing - •Temmin Wexley - 57
•Temmin Wexley - Snap (54)
Heroic (1)
R4 Astromech (2)
Integrated S-foils (Closed) (0)

T-70 X-wing - •Ello Asty - 59
•Ello Asty - Born to Ill (56)
Heroic (1)
R4 Astromech (2)
Integrated S-foils (Closed) (0)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

My opponent flew IG-88A, IG-88B, and 4-LOM. During the initial engagement, Ello got hit pretty hard, and made it out with one hull, a stress from 4-LOM, and a double-stress from a crit. 4-LOM himself went down without too much fuss, but my forces were scattered and it was difficult to focus-fire on either remaining bot, so damage was spread out. They were able to focus fire on Wexley, and get him down to one hull, and he and Ello both fell soon after. One A-Wing then succumbed quickly to the bots' combined might, and the other one was able to dance around a bit longer and take pot-shots before finally getting destroyed and ending the game. I managed to strip the shields from both IGs, and put two or three damage on one of them! All in all, it was a very fun game, and felt like it could have gone either way (right up until my last remaining A-Wing got taken down to one hull, at least)! Also, Heroic triggered twice, one time on a defense roll of four dice! It may not trigger often, but saving you from four blanks even once makes it definitely feel worth it!

Observations:
RZ-2s are a blast to fly!
Their mobile arcs mean it's almost always better to do a blue or white maneuver, then action into a rotate rather than to do a red maneuver.
...but the rear arc isn't very powerful, especially since you can't use your missiles out of it.
T-70s can put out quite a bit of damage.
T-70s have an additional shield over T-65s, which makes them feel a bit tankier.
IG-88 will always have a Calculate token on him.

Conclusions:
This was a really fun list to fly, and I look forward to tweaking it and trying it again! I loved Daredevil on the Rebel A-Wings, but the Resistance ones don't really need it, and I'll probably swap it out for more expensive missiles on the RZ-2s or some more upgrades on the T-70s. Also, I'm not sure if it was the points update, the extended time away from the game, or just the fact that I wasn't facing Palob, but this was the first game against Scum that I legitimately enjoyed. I didn't feel like the opponent's list was a hard-counter to mine, or that I lost the game in list-building. Neither did I feel like I was betrayed by the dice, which actually seemed pretty balanced most of the game. The game simply felt like a tactical battle where the only reason I lost was because the opponent played better than me, and was able to capitalize on my mistakes better than I was able to capitalize on his. And that's how an X-Wing game should be!

Next week, I think I'll try the Triple- Lambda s again.